Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880

In Short

This October 1880 issue of Lippincott's Magazine is a multifaceted mid-Victorian monthly miscellany combining serialized popular fiction, travel memoirs, cultural critiques, and literary reviews. Within its pages, readers encounter Major John Wesley Powell's daring navigation of the Grand Canyon's treacherous rapids, a dramatic tale of Cornish smugglers torn apart by secrets, vivid travelogues spanning the Kingdom of Hawaii and modernizing Portugal, a poignant alpine tale by Ouida, and urgent political correspondence regarding Irish land reform. It survives as a pristine artifact of 19th-century popular intellectual culture.

The Story

The volume opens with high-stakes exploration in the American West, recounting Major John Wesley Powell’s harrowing expedition through the untamed cañons of the Colorado River. Facing roaring rapids, granite boulders, and dwindling, spoiled rations of unleavened flour and rancid bacon, Powell and his men confront a deadly roaring maelstrom. Despite mutinous doubts from crew members who threaten to abandon the expedition for the Mormon settlements, Powell chooses to risk the river's fury to fulfill his lifelong dream of completing the journey.

Sensational narrative prose gives way to the serialized drama of Cornish coastal life, where interpersonal tension and legal peril collide. Joan and Eve, two resilient young women, attempt to keep order in a home unraveling under the influence of heavy drinking, illegal trade, and the looming presence of law enforcement. As red-coated soldiers post and replace reward notices down by the quay, secret messages are shuttled between mill-house hideouts and fearful mothers, while missing men and mysterious midnight escapes over the mill-hatch keep the community in agonizing suspense. Elsewhere, in the rough western territory of Junta and Trocalara, a ranchman known as "Odd Trick" reflects on a past love triangle. After a violent shootout, his companion Parker loses his mind and woos the beloved Kitty, prompting the narrator to step aside silently so the two can marry.

The collection shifts geographic scope through rich first-person travel narrative. A female educator in Hawaii shares detailed observations of daily life at a Waialua boarding school, describing nighttime checks for centipedes and tarantulas under mosquito netting, views of wave-misted bays, and journeys through guava jungles to witness traditional tappa-cloth making for Queen Emma. In Europe, an essay on French horse-racing explores the aristocratic maneuvers of the duc d'Aumale and his courtly companions along the forest alleys of Chantilly, while another writer offers a defense of Portugal's modernizing infrastructure against outdated English stereotypes.

In fiction, Ouida contributes the sentimental, tragic story of Findelkind, a poor Tyrolese boy inspired by a local saint to collect funds for the needy. His noble ambition ends in heartbreak when his young twin brothers freeze to death in a blizzard—an accident for which he permanently blames himself. Finally, the volume turns to serious social analysis, publishing urgent correspondence from the west of Ireland warning of imminent agrarian uprising due to oppressive absentee landlords, high rents, and widespread poverty.

How It Unfolds

The river quest Major Powell and his exhausted crew inspect a treacherous series of falls and boulder-strewn rapids in the Colorado cañons, debating whether to risk their remaining boats or hike across the table-lands.

Smugglers in the shadows In a Cornish fishing village, Joan and Eve manage a chaotic household of drinkers while evading authorities, as soldiers post new reward notices along the quay for missing fugitives.

Life in the Hawaiian kingdom A schoolteacher describes her routine in Waialua, watching massive ocean waves create the local sea-mist, avoiding centipedes in the dormitories, and visiting a native woman beating bark into tappa cloth.

Tragedy on Martinswand Young Findelkind attempts a winter mission to help the poor, but his venture ends in disaster when his two little twin brothers freeze to death in the alpine snows, burdening him with lifelong guilt.

Courts and turf at Chantilly The narrative examines the Parisian racing world, detailing political squabbles between the duc d'Aumale and racing stewards over the use of forest avenues for horse training.

Warnings from Connemara A private letter from Ireland outlines the severe poverty and debt of wretches under absentee landlords, predicting violent resistance and calling for urgent parliamentary intervention.

The People

• Major John Wesley Powell — An ambitious American explorer driven by an insatiable desire to complete the navigation of the Colorado River, refusing to turn back even when faced with deadly rapids and mutinous crew members.
• Joan and Eve — Two practical, overworked Cornish maidens who navigate family ties, illegal trade, and emotional strain while attempting to protect their loved ones from soldiers and local informants.
• Adam — A Cornish man hidden away from the authorities, who listens anxiously to news of his home, feeling bitter that his beloved Eve sent no direct message to him during his retreat.
• Findelkind — An impoverished, innocent Tyrolese boy with deep religious faith who dreams of building a hospice for the poor, but is broken by the accidental death of his brothers.
• "Odd Trick" — A Western rancher who quietly sacrifices his own romantic feelings for a woman named Kitty after his injured friend Parker loses his mind and woos her.
• Dr. Putnam — A young physician recovering from typhoid fever whose quiet strolls through a suburban cemetery lead to delicate, reflective encounters with a grieving woman.

In Its Own Voice

"This trip had been the object of his life for many years, looked forward to and dreamed of, and to leave the exploration unfinished when he was so near the end, to acknowledge defeat, was more than he could reconcile himself to."

An intrepid explorer faces a life-or-death choice while staring down the dangerous rapids of an uncharted Western river.

"Into this crescent-shaped reach of water rolled great waves from the outside ocean, following each other in regular stately order with a front of milk-white foam and a veil of mist flying backward several yards from the summit."

A traveler gazes out from an attic window at the dramatic, mist-shrouded shores of Waialua Bay.

"He came into the midst of the people with the two little lambs in his arms, and he heeded neither the outcries of neighbors nor the frenzied joy of his mother: his eyes looked straight before him and his face was white like the snow."

A heartbroken boy returns from the alpine storm bearing the cold bodies of his twin brothers.

What It's Really About

At its core, this issue explores the tension between human ambition and harsh external realities. Whether depicting Powell battling the elements in the Grand Canyon, a young boy crushed by his own naive idealism, or Irish tenants struggling under systemic economic exploitation, the collection consistently examines how individuals act when pushed to their limits. It also explores the shifting boundaries of the late-19th-century world: wild spaces are mapped, foreign cultures are observed through domestic eyes, and old social structures face the pressures of modernization and reform.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to lovers of Victorian literature, historical travelogue, and period journalism. It offers a authentic, unvarnished window into late-19th-century popular culture, capturing the exact blend of entertainment, education, and moral sentiment that satisfied readers in 1880. Reading it feels like flipping through a pristine time capsule: one minute you are navigating dangerous river rapids in the American West, and the next you are sitting in a grass hut in Hawaii or attending the races at Chantilly.

Modern readers should be prepared for typical period constraints, including dialect-heavy regional dialogue in the serial fiction and Victorian sentimentalism in the short stories. The entry points can feel abrupt due to its anthology structure and serialized installments. However, the prose is remarkably clear and vivid, balancing high-stakes adventure with thoughtful cultural criticism. It rewards anyone curious about how 19th-century readers saw their rapidly changing world.